Thrips are hard to get rid of , they are eating everything alive here. Some sprays say that they kill them, and ive tried, it didn't even put a dent in the problem. Someone gave me a tip on another forum. Buy bright yellow plastic cups (they are attracted to bright colors, especially yellow) cover it with vasaline, the bugs will get stuck on the cups, keep replacing the cups. This may help with the problem but not resolve it. Thirps burrow themselves inside very small spaces in the plant. Especially the buds. A systemic insecticide is a surefire way to get rid of the problem, but if you don't want to do that your gona have to wait them out. They are bad here, if you wear bright colored clothing you will be covered in them, and they bite and make you all itchy. BTW not all thirps are black or brown, the ones around here are yellowish, and very tiny. Good luck, I need it to! Those things are like plant vampires sucking the life out of all my plants also! -Jessica

The waterlogged area contains no air, thus the roots die and organic matter rots anaerobically, producing a sewagey smell. If you don't water for a few days, the excess water will be drawn up through the soil by capillary attraction and air will move into the zone. Roots can then recolonize (in my limited experience with this). Watering every day or twice a day to the point of bottom drainage pretty much ensures that there will always be a saturated layer at the bottom of the pot. This reduces the rooting area, and so paradoxically the plant is quicker to wilt, encouraging you to water even more. I suggest you start monitoring the amount of water you're applying in a week. If it's a 6 x 6 two-dimensional plant it might need 6 or 8 gallons a week in summer, or 4 gallons in cool weather, as a first approximation. I would try dividing this into say 2 gallons every other day and not panic if the plant wilts at mid-afternoon. If the plant is making new growth, it has enough water. Keep checking to see if the sewagey condition abates. Sound like more drain holes would be helpful, if it's a plastic container.

5 minutes at 1 gallon per hour is 10 oz of water every 3 days. Livermore averages 86*F in the summer, and we've had lots of heat waves where it's gone into the 90*F quite often. It also looks like you've lost leaves too. I suspect that is not enough water for your tree in your climate. I'm in the Santa Clara Valley, not far from you, and I water my container citrus quite a lot more than that. I've been watering them with probably a half a gallon (32 oz) every 3 days, and more when the temps go over 90*F. Citrus will drop fruit if they are too dry or too wet. I'm betting yours has been too dry. It's also lost leaves too. So, I think it's not getting enough water,imo . Now if you increase your water, I suggest re-potting in a better draining mix. If you try and water more in your average potting mix, you may have drainage issues, which can cause your mix to not have enough air in it, which can cause other issues. There is a mix that is favored by a lot of folks on this forum for growing citrus in, it's called the "5-1-1 mix". Put that name into the search box for this forum and you'll get the recipe. It supports more frequent watering than you've been doing while allowing the better drainage and air retention that that level of irrigation needs. Miracle Gro shake and feed is OK, but it's not a good ratio for citrus. I prefer Osmocote Plus. It works pretty much the same as the MG shake and feed, but has a better ratio for citrus. You can get it at most good Garden Centers.

Julia, Kathy has it totally correct.....Example...those that I sent you were cut back....Fans and scapes. Those will slowly die back. From the center of the clumps and each fan, new growth will appear. You should see it starting in about 2 weeks from planting. As she also said...you must water thoroughly. Too get the ground wet 2-8 inches below the crust, takes a great deal of water. To see how effective you are, do as Kathy said.....dig down a few inches about 6 inches out from your new planting. You may be suprised to see dry ground, even after standing there with a sprinkler/nozzle and thinking you had watered well. You want to insure the new plants get off to a good start so water real well. Once they are established it is "Ideal" to insure they get about an inch of water per week. Or you can do as I do with my Mother Nature Bed......"Plant it and forget it".....LOL Hope it survives...:) Hope this helps...... Rick